MELBOURNE, May 28 (Reuters) - Moana Pasifika will bid farewell to Super Rugby on Saturday against the ACT Brumbies, marking the end of a failed five-year project to boost pathways into the highest levels for players with Pacific islands heritage.
Placed into liquidation this week, Moana's demise will see Super Rugby Pacific shrink to 10 teams in 2027 while leaving players and staff with uncertain futures.
Tana Umaga's team head into the final round of the regular season at Canberra Stadium riding a 12-match losing streak.
A vision that Moana would be based in the Pacific failed to materialise and they ended up as New Zealand's sixth team in the competition by default, struggling for fans and sponsorship in a city dominated by the Auckland Blues.
Umaga, set to join Dave Rennie's All Blacks staff, says Moana's exit may strengthen the National Rugby League's hold over Pacific nations' talent.
"The Pacific islanders make up about 40% of players in the NRL, similar to rugby (union)," he said.
"If they all go to league, it'll be a sad time, a sad place for where rugby should be."
Rival clubs are circling the franchise's top talent, with All Blacks enforcer Ardie Savea the hottest property. The loose forward is on a playing sabbatical in Japan but was expected to return to Moana for the 2027 season.
Moana are not alone in battling financial problems.
Executives at multiple clubs have warned that Super Rugby, once boasting 18 teams and spanning South Africa to Japan, is on a slippery slope.
Hopes that Australia's teams might give New Zealand better competition have come to nothing, with the top four Super Rugby slots set to be locked down by Kiwi teams unless the fifth-placed Brumbies beat Moana and the Canterbury Crusaders lose at home to leaders Wellington Hurricanes on Friday.
The Crusaders could drop to sixth place, the last spot in the playoffs, by the end of the weekend if the Queensland Reds take a bonus-point win over Fijian Drua at home on Friday before a Brumbies win.
The Hurricanes have an unassailable lead at the top of the table and may have more to lose by beating the Crusaders.
With the top-placed team facing the sixth best in the first week of the playoffs, the Hurricanes might prefer to host a visiting Australian side rather than the defending champions.
The Blues, meanwhile, will hope to upset the second-placed Chiefs in Hamilton to stave off the threat of the Crusaders taking third place and the privilege of a home playoff.
Compared to the New Zealand derbies, the final match of the regular season will be a damp squib as the already-eliminated Australian teams Western Force and New South Wales Waratahs meet in Perth with only pride on the line.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
